County P & Z continues working on report to supervisors

By Linda Wenger | May 01, 2013

By the end of the Washington County Planning & Zoning (P & Z) Commission work session, Tuesday evening, the commissioners informally agreed to prepare a two-part report about rescinding the county zoning ordinance to the Board of Supervisors. Present at the work session were commission chair Don Kline, and commissioners Layne Twinam, Ron Andersen, Angela Beary, Randy Billups, Andrew Hora and Julie Mangold, zoning administrator Steve Lafaurie and county attorney Larry Brock. Absent were commissioners Rebecca Bush and Karolyn Skubal. At the beginning of the meeting, Kline said he hoped the commission could come up with a good framework for the report. He said the commission has scheduled a public hearing on the report for May 30, and that he hoped the report would be on the county’s Web site a week or so before the public hearing. Kline also brought up Lafaurie’s report on “Ten Reasons Why Zoning is a Necessary Tool for Washington County in the 21st Century.” He prepared the report in January for the board of supervisors. The top 10 reasons are listed as the comprehensive plan, protection of property values, public dialogue, preservation of prime farmland, limiting urban sprawl, incompatible uses, flood plain regulation, economic development, litigation and the cost of going back.Most of the commissioners talked about the need to retain zoning and the topics they discussed were from Lafaurie’s report. Brock suggested the two-part report. He said the first part would focus on the commission’s recommendation. The second part would spell out the ramifications of no zoning. Kline said that his take on the board of supervisors is that they will rescind zoning, they will get rid of all the commissioners and then they would appoint a new zoning board. He thinks the supervisors would need to come up with some sort of zoning ordinance. Twinam talked about how supervisor Steve Davis has changed his mind on zoning, Davis voted against zoning, but at the joint work session with the commission and the supervisors, he said he has seen some good things come from zoning. He also thinks supervisor Ron Bennett might go along with zoning. Twinam then said that the decision will be made by the three most inexperienced supervisors, Stan Stoop, Jack Seward Jr. and Bob Yoder. As the meeting wound down, Kline asked Lafaurie if Lafaurie had enough information to work on putting a draft report together. Lafaurie reviewed the points for the commission. The next P&Z work session is scheduled for May 23.